Supporting land rights: public intellectuals

Anthropologists such as Bill Geddes and Bill Stanner wrote in academic journals and in daily newspapers in favour of land rights. Charles Rowley, principal of the Australian School of Pacific Administration, which trained welfare officers for work in Northern Australia and in New Guinea, developed the case for a system of land tenure for Aboriginal Australians in an article published in Oceania in 1962.

These writings were given a much wider readership when they were reprinted in On Aboriginal Affairs. A bi-monthly periodical edited by Ian Spalding, On Aboriginal Affairs brought information about Aboriginal issues together and disseminated it broadly amongst those interested in the position of Aboriginal Australians. Spalding's own editorials effectively synthesised key issues and their public debate. His editorial, 'Aboriginal land rights', pointed out the Australian failure, compared to other colonising countries, to consider this 'right'.